The Second Amendment was written to calm public fear that the new national government would crush the state militias made up of all (white) adult men—who were required to own a gun to serve.
In The Second Amendment: A Biography, Michael Waldman recounts the raucous public debate that has surrounded the amendment from its inception to the present.
Waldman is the president of the prestigious Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.
Rebroadcast of a segment from 2014.
